no expectations

1. Long Vacation

2. Insecure

3. Better Now

4. Shame On Us

5. Light In The Dark (Alternative mix)

I was actually planning to release a full album, but I felt like putting out so many new songs at the same time could be somewhat overwhelming, so I asked my friends through social media what they thought the perfect amount of new tracks is when releasing music, and most of them said that an EP with 3-4 songs was the best choice. That's why I reformulated my idea and started planning "No Expectations".

The title comes from the lyrics of the first song, and I conceptually based this album on losing hope and feeling lost. That's why each song represents different ways to end up feeling that way, and it deals with certain topics, such as mental health or social media addictions, that aren't usually too common to discuss through pop music.

The first song from this EP is called "Long Vacation", and it's a fast-paced rock song inspired by music from the 60s. I initially gave it a more powerful and raw sound, but I thought switching the live drums for an electronic beat and adding a few synth melodies would give it a more pop feel to it, so it'd fit better with the other songs from the EP. The lyrics talk about being done with fake and opportunist people, in fact the first line "I'm done with being the good guy" pretty much sums up what the song is about. I think it gives off an angry vibe, but it's supposed to be a song about being angry so that's exactly the kind of vibe I was aiming for.

The next song is "Insecure", a bittersweet guitar-driven song that sounds both nice and sad at the same time. It takes influences from future pop, especially during the post-chorus sections, and vocally it was challenging because of 2 main reasons: the 2nd verse features the lowest notes I can probably reach, and during the bridge section I held a high note for 15 seconds, which is definitely the longest I've ever recorded. The lyrics discuss feeling insecure about your physical appearance, and they were strongly inspired by the pain and distress that a body dysmorphic disorder and an eating disorder can cause.

"Better Now" features elements from future pop as well, and it takes some inspiration from R&B ballads from the early 00s. The lyrics talk about people who constantly feel the need to hide certain aspects of their life and show off a fake perfect lifestyle on social media, even though they're actually lonely and anxious. It's a song about how something might look perfect but that doesn't mean it is, and it also represents how mental health is still such a taboo topic these days, so people who are suffering from a mental disorder often feel like they have to put on a fake smile and pretend that everything's fine, even when it's not.

The last song is "Shame On Us", but in a way it's also the most meaningful one, both lyrically and musically. It's an acoustic guitar-driven track that goes in crescendo through the different sections, and the ending features strings that create a powerful wall of sound. The lyrics discuss how I feel about my current generation from my own point of view: too many people are dealing with mental disorders such as anxiety and depression at a really young age, too many people feel lost even though society tells them they're supposed to have it all figured out by now, and too many people feel lonely in a time when everyone's connected through the internet. However, it's almost as if we're often deemed as guilty of these situations, so that's the idea where this song's title comes from.

Lastly, I included an alternative version of my song "Light in the Dark" as a way to include a track that people might have heard already, but in a way that it feels completely new at the same time.